What Does Four Fold Mean?

The word four-fold is an adjective. It is used to describe a state or condition which is four times the previous condition. Four fold could also be written as four-fold or fourfold. The word indicates four times as great as the original. For example: the doctor advised a four-fold increase in the medication. In this example, the doctor increased the medication four times the medication which he prescribed earlier. Four-fold is also used to describe something which has four units or components. For example: a quadruple rhythm has four beats per measure. In this example, quadruple represents a constitution or a group and not a multiplication factor. Thus, quadruple indicates something that which has four constituents.

Four-fold could also be used as an adverb. For example: the readership of the novel has increased four-fold over the last two months. Quadrable, quadrumanous, quadruple, quadrigeminal are some of the words that could be used for four-fold.

The term 'fold' when used to describe increases/decreases is misleading because the act of folding anything bears no relationship to the accepted meaning. While folding anything does not increase it in any real way, folding does double the number of layers each time a fold is made. A sheet folded four times creates 16 layers. But when something is increased fourfold it only increases to four times it's original amount. So 'folding' really has no relationship to conventional 'increases or decreases.

I would suggest that people use phrases like 'it's 4 times as big', or 'it's four times as much".

That would be, like, tenfold times easier to grok. Duh.

Oh, and quit saying "especially".

Get a clue people.